Alternative economics

Some writers on climate change use the idea of the "Anthropocene" to blame humanity in general for the degradation caused by burning fossil fuels. Andrea Malm critiques this concept in this article from Jacobin, read here in abridged form by Clayton Morgareidge. Capitalists, not humanity, are to blame.
Ian Angus, editor of Climate and Capitalism, argues, to the contrary, that the concept of the Anthropocene is a useful one and does not rule out pointing the finger at Capitalism. His article is here.
9:13 minutes (6.33 MB)

Bill Resnick and Tyler MacGuiness of the Oregon Center for Public Policy explore Child poverty in Oregon. Twenty-five percent of Oregon kids live in destitution, 50% are in ordinary poverty, and 75% of those are in working families. The "business community" has become concerned but their proposals are false and self-serving, and they are fighting against raising the minimum wage, the best way of reducing poverty.
Photo Credit: Oregon Food Bank
17:08 minutes (11.76 MB)

Coloradan Karin Lazarus had a brainstorm in 2009, start a bakery with pastries that are infused with marijuana. In 2013, NY Magazine called her, "the Queen of the Munchies" said she's "brought a pastry chef’s savvy to the world of pot brownies" Her new cookbook, called the "Sweet Mary Jane cookbook" has 75 pot infused recipies. Karin Lazarus talked with Don Merrill about why she started making marijuana pastries, her steep learning curve and why she hopes every state eventually allows medicinal marijuana dispensaries.
27:23 minutes (25.07 MB)

Joe Clement talks with Cassie Thornton about her use of debt for the last 7 years as a subject for her art-work. She describes how she's sought to concretize debt, explore debt through hypnotherapeutic visualization exercises with others, and in the end how she's gotten involved with the national Strike Debt movement.
8:26 minutes (7.73 MB)

Tod Sloan talks with Lara Messersmith-Glavin of the Institute for Anarchist Studies about theory and practice. They consider how theory helps illuminate individually lived experiences as part of larger systems, while also stressing the priority of lived experience in generating our theories. She provides examples of how theory has helped make her everyday life as a working-class mother make more sense, bringing her a degree of control and context, and over all increasing her resilience as a person. She also describes how the experience of queer women of color informed several "correctives" to some of the one-demensional concerns of white feminists. [Image Credit: permanantculturenow.org]
12:59 minutes (11.89 MB)